Castles in the Sand
Build a beach, face the tide
Free · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Scoop, pat and drip wet sand into castles, then watch the sea come for them. A cozy sandbox with real water, real tides and no accounts.
Castles in the Sand is a cozy beach-building game with real water.
You shape a beach out of wet sand with one finger: drag to scoop a channel, tap to pat a wall firm, press and hold to drip a spire, or press a bucket mold into the sand and lift it away. Then plant your flag and let the tide in.
The sea is not an animation. Water flows downhill, soaks into the sand, carries grains away and drops them somewhere else. A wall that gets too wet slumps. A moat that drains does its job. Your castle survives — or melts — for exactly the reasons a real one would.
TWELVE LEVELS, TWO KINDS OF PROBLEM
• Protect the flag: plant a marker and keep the sea from soaking or undermining it for the length of a tide.
• Hydraulics: route the incoming water into marked basins and make it stay there as the tide comes and goes.
Each level teaches a tool and rewards you with a new bucket mold. Fewer grains moved means more stars: the best builders do the least.
FREE PLAY, ALWAYS
Every mold you have unlocked, a full beach, and a tide button. No goals unless you want them.
MADE TO BE QUIET
Sand hisses under your finger. Waves break, run up and drain away. Every sound in the game is synthesized to sit in the background, and there is a slow, soft music bed under it all — or turn either off.
FAIR AND QUIET ABOUT IT
• No accounts, no sign-in. The game itself plays offline.
• Ads appear between levels, never while you are building or while the tide is in — and one purchase removes them for good.
• Lost a flag to the sea? You can watch an ad to save the level. Always your choice, and saying no costs nothing.
• Nothing about you is collected. Ads are chosen from the game, not from you.
• One finger to build, two fingers to look around. Works on phones and tablets.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
Minor bug fixes
The developer, Nate Voorhies, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- NATHANIEL VOORHIES
- Size
- 87.5 MB
- Category
- Simulation
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 16.0 or later and a device with the A12 Bionic chip or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 16.0 or later and a device with the A12 Bionic chip or later.
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone SE (2nd generation)
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13
• iPhone SE (3rd generation)
• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 15
• iPhone 15 Plus
• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max
• iPhone 16e
• iPhone 17 Pro
• iPhone 17 Pro Max
• iPhone 17
• iPhone Air
• iPhone 17e
• iPhone 18 Pro
• iPhone 18 Pro Max
• iPhone Duo - iPad
Requires iPadOS 16.0 or later and a device with the A12 Bionic chip or later.
• iPad Pro (11‑inch)
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (3rd generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (3rd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad mini (5th generation)
• iPad mini (5th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• iPad Air (3rd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (2nd generation)
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (2nd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (4th generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (4th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air (4th generation)
• iPad Air (4th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (8th generation)
• iPad (8th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11-inch) (3rd generation)
• iPad Pro (11-inch) (3rd generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (5th generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch) (5th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad mini (6th generation)
• iPad mini (6th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad (9th generation)
• iPad (9th generation) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air (5th generation)
• iPad Air (5th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad (10th generation)
• iPad (10th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (4th generation)
• iPad Pro (11‑inch) (4th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (6th generation)
• iPad Pro (12.9‑inch) (6th generation) Wi‑Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 11-inch (M2)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M2) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 13-inch (M2)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M2) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M4)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M4) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M4)
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M4) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad mini (A17 Pro)
• iPad mini (A17 Pro) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad (A16)
• iPad (A16) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 11-inch (M3)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M3) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 13-inch (M3)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M3) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M5)
• iPad Pro 11-inch (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M5)
• iPad Pro 13-inch (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 11-inch (M4)
• iPad Air 11-inch (M4) Wi-Fi + Cellular
• iPad Air 13-inch (M4)
• iPad Air 13-inch (M4) Wi-Fi + Cellular - Mac
Requires macOS 13.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later and a device with the A12 Bionic chip or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
4+
- 4+
- Contains
Advertising
- Copyright
- © 2026 Nathaniel Voorhies